Back in May, Scott Henderson, orbital launch site director of Blue Origin, spoke to about 100 community leaders at a luncheon at the Florida Institute of Technology.

The event was hosted by the statewide law firm GrayRobinson’s Melbourne office.

At the luncheon, Henderson pointed out Blue Origin’s presence in Brevard County wasn’t a given. If not for the support of the Space Coast community – i.e. financial incentives – he could just as easily be addressing leaders in some other state.

Henderson led the efforts for Blue Origin’s New Glenn project. Initially there were 12 potential sites. Then seven. Then five. Then three. Then Brevard, which won over Georgia and North Carolina.

“Frankly, if not for the efforts of many people in this room...I could very well be giving this speech in Atlanta, or Raleigh,” Henderson said, noting the company will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars and hiring more than 300 skilled aerospace engineers and manufacturing workers.

That’s on top of the 45 Blue Origin folks already here.

Florida and Space Coast officials, Henderson said, came together with a financial package that addressed the key issues important to Blue Origin, including location, safety and “financials.”

The company is building its 750,000-square-foot New Glenn rocket factory at Kennedy Space Center’s Exploration Park on Merritt Island, which should be completed by early 2018. In total, Blue Origin is expected to invest between $205 million and $220 million in local infrastructure, and providing average annual wages of about $89,000. The company will receive at least $18 million in state incentives, including $8 million from the North Brevard Economic Development Zone.

Incentives, always a volatile issue here and elsewhere, were back in the news in June when Blue Origin announced it was going to base it’s rocket engine manufacturing facility in Alabama.

Not Brevard. Not even Kent, Washington, where Blue Origin is headquartered.

Apparently the folks in Alabama ponied up a $39 million incentive package and in return will get a $200 million facility and close to 350 high-tech manufacturing jobs.

Here is Alabama’s Department of Commerce’s estimates: Over 20 years, the Blue Origin project could generate $633 million in wages and a profit of $43 million to the state. Under the Alabama Jobs Act, which lays out the incentives to attract business, Blue Origin will receive reimbursements and tax credits, including $8.7 million for job creation and a $30 million credit for investment in the state over 10 years.

Was it a foregone conclusion Alabama was going to get this project over Florida and other states? There’s probably a good argument for that. That region is known for rocket propulsion research and is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, which is responsible for development of the agency's massive Space Launch System rocket and the U.S. Army's Aviation and Missile Command, or AMCOM.

And there probably are some political considerations in play also. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, has a lot of sway in funding for aerospace projects like Blue Origin.

“At the end of the day, none of us were surprised that the engine manufacturing went to Alabama,” Dale Ketcham, chief of strategic alliances at Space Florida, told FLORIDA TODAY. “That’s what Alabama does.”

With that in mind, do you think if Alabama hadn’t rolled out that $39 million incentive package, Blue Origin would have gone elsewhere.

That’s a good question and it’s part of a debate that will go on for quite some time.

Price is Business Editor at FLORIDA TODAY. He can be reached at 321-242-3658 or wprice@floridatoday.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @Fla2dayBiz.